It had been a week and the boys hadn't seen Cameron at all. They sat on the edge of the cul-de-sac thinking about their friend.
"I hope it didn't eat him..." Jefferey said quietly.
"I thought you wanted it to eat him?" Chad replied.
"No, he just called me a baby..." then Jefferey furrowed his brow angrily, "I'm not a baby."
"Be quiet, Jefferey," Justin instructed him, staring out at the woods. Things were quiet for a moment, then he added. "We should go find him."
"Out there?" Rudi asked, "By ourselves?"
Chad jumped up, excited, "Yeah! We can be heros!"
Jefferey stood too, but he shook his head. "We can't go in the woods by ourselves! The woods are scary!"
The other too got up as well. "You don't have to go if you don't want to, Jefferey," Justin said.
Jefferey thought for a moment. Then shook his head, with determination. "I'm not a baby."
"Okay," Justin said, "Let's go find Cameron."
Chad suddenly burst into a sprint toward the woods. "Let's goooooooo!" he cried, and then began repeatedly tapping his hand against his mouth as he yelled, like an Indian.
Then other boys followed, but less vigorously.
They searched for a while before finding Cameron's little creek.
"Look!" Jefferey suddenly cried. He pointed at a red object on the ground. They walked over to it. It was Cameron's hat. Chad picked it up. "Look Justin!" He held it out to the oldest boy.
Justin took the hat at examined it. He flipped it over, and then suddenly flung it away with a cry.
He quickly recomposed himself, and then went back to it.
"What?! What was it?!" the other boys demanded to know.
Justin picked it up again, but held it cautiously.
He flipped it back over and the boys saw Cody the leech clinging to the inside of the hat.
There was silence for a long time.
Then, Jefferey spoke up softly, "I didn't really want it to eat him..."
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